Many good points have been made on this issue, and I want to throw in some
thoughts I have been having about Cathy's original post.  She said "it must be
about something less tangible and something less amenable to change" than lack
of caring or lack of info

I have been reading Robbie Davis-Floyd's articles from her web-site
http://www.davis-floyd.com.  Davis Floyd is an anthropolgist of birth but a lot
of what she says seems to me to resonate for breastfeeding.

Birth is essentially a non-medical event.  It is also, for most (all?) cultures
a time of transition, marked by ritual practices.  Birthing practices are about
bringing the mother through this transitional event with renewed identification
with her culture and with the norms of her new identity, and about introducing a
new
member of society into the norms of his or her culture.  Thus, practices will
reflect the values of society.  Davis-Floyd gives, as an example in US births,
the use of technology:  the US/the West supervalues technology, so it is
important for the woman to be hooked up -- literally, in the case of the IV
unit, which is like an umbilical cord to the hospital/medical system/technology.

Feeding is also part of the ritual of birth.  E.g. in many cultures now, and in
Western cultures of the past the practice of pre-lacteal feeds is common.  In
India, for example, ghee or butter -- a rich food valued in the culture -- may
be given  In medieval Europe, wine.  In recent practice in the UK, sugar
(glucose water).  Pre lacteal feeds give the child a 'taste' of the values of
his culture as part of his induction as a member.

Our western cultures supervalue time.  Our babies will be expected to grow into
children regulated by the schoolbell, workers on a time-clock or an obligation
to fulfill
a certain amount of work as measured in hours.  What are many of the ritual
practices which surround breastfeeding and infant feeding in general?  They are
about time.  How soon/within what time frame to put the baby first to the
breast.  How often to feed.  How long a feed should last.  How many times is the
baby 'up' in the night.

Our western cultures supervalue measurement.  Western biomedicine is based on
'body as machine' and notions that we can know and measure everything.   Other
ritual
practices about feeding are about measurement.  How much...?  How heavy...?  How
strong is the flow, the letdown...?  How much does the milk contain of fat,
vitamin K, DHAs....?

Here (UK), where we have midwifery care for most women and newborns, the doctors
still act as 'shamans in chief' and midwives do much of the enforcement.  In the
US, they assume a more obvious role.  Part of what they are doing is policing
the cultural norms of our society and ensuring that women do not dare to have
their babies feeding unregulated, unmeasured, untimed by outsiders.

That's just not how we do things.

A cultural shift requires more than new information.

Magda Sachs (with thanks to Robbie Davis-Floyd, for her articles)
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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